The very thought of some faceless thief stealing your identity and using your good name is scary. Even without the other inherent dangers of identity theft the idea can be pretty frightening. Unfortunately there are other dangers and someone parading around pretending to be you is only the first of your problems.
Identity theft is full of dangers and limiting these dangers is not an easy task. Identity theft can result in many, many things, none of them pleasant.
* Stolen personal information
The theft of any of your personal information is the beginning of identity theft. What begins with a stolen name can quickly escalate into the theft of more of your personal information. Once a thief has a little information they can use it to acquire more.
So even if you feel only a little of your information could possibly be stolen that little bit can snowball into much more. It is of vital importance that you protect all of your personal data.
* Fraudulent credit
One of the most prevalent fears concerning identity theft is that the thief will use your information to acquire credit that they will then use and abuse. Your personal information can be used to acquire credit cards, loans, even mortgages or cell phones. The thief will acquire these in your name and then run up a large bill leaving you to pay the tab.
* Ruined credit score
Running up bad debt in your name will of course lead to a destruction of your personal credit. They don’t have to run up a lot of bad debt to do this to you either, simply making multiple applications in your name can hurt your credit score. The longer the thief gets away with the theft the worse your score will be affected.
* Crimes committed in your name
One of the worst dangers of identity theft is the possibility that one day you will open the door to find law enforcement there to take you away for a crime you did not commit. In this age of cyber crime an identity thief can use your identity and information to commit any manner of crime and put the blame on you.
While the truth usually eventually comes out, the inconvenience of going to jail; the humiliation of having to explain something like that to your present (or future depending on the crime) employer can be overwhelming. This is not something that you want happening to you.
Identity theft is a terrible crime. The use of your identity by someone you don’t even know, have probably never even met, is scary. The dangers of this crime are numerous and far reaching. Do not let this happen to you!